General Urban Development

[UnFrSaKn]

I've been spending a lot of time on Doug's site and a few others trying to learn about what buildings used to be downtown but have been demolished. I must be the only 29 year old interested in such things. It amazes me that something like the Biltmore was demolished like it was nothing at all. People my age will never get to see it, whether it was boarded up and covered in pigeon crap or not. How long was the Skirvin left abandoned? Now it's one of the last gems downtown. Buildings are like a time machines, and I would bet the people who built them would roll in their graves to see their blood and sweat turned into a parking lot or whatever. Part of what makes a city unique is the wide range of architecture you see. I can't believe buildings like the Baum building, the old courthouse and the downtown library once existed. The old guys I work with like Doug's site and old pictures of downtown how they remember when they were kids. They all talk like it was a bygone era.

I've been spending a lot of time using Bing street view and Google street view trying to find what's still standing and where the old buildings were. So I'm trying to remember a lot of buildings. I had assumed the tall building across from Sandridge was the India Temple, and wondered what the one on the corner was but that makes sense now. What's the one across from Sandridge then?

I personally can't see a single reason for ever demolishing a piece of history. A city and a building is only what people choose to make of it. Were people considering tearing down the Skirvin when it was in disrepair? Money and the economy are fleeting things, that go up and down over the years. Once a building is demolished, there goes the cities history and the legacy of those that worked to build it. I guess that's my rant that's formulated in my head lately.